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Internet Checks Hamper Commerce Growth
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Malaysia is following a Singaporean lead in its drive to curb Internet freedom that will hamper the growth of E-commerce, an Internet consultant said Friday.
Malaysian authorities, irritated by the large number of opposition and "free and independent" media on the Internet has announced its readiness to formulate an Internet content code.
Although the government said that though it intends to stick to its stand of not censoring the Internet, it wants to curb abuses of the net by politicians and anti-government elements.
The authorities have also stepped up efforts to impose checks on existing Internet media. It warned websites the likes of Malaysiakini not to go overboard in its criticism and to refrain from publishing articles that could threaten national stability.
The official explanation in the government's attempt to filter the net is the possibility of the spreading of untruths. It blamed such "lies" for its loss of popularity among Malay-Muslims.
Sonia Bahadur, an Internet Consultant in Kuala Lumpur, said these checks and attempts to impose new codes on the Internet would further hamper the progress of the new medium.
"E-commerce, already a non-starter in Malaysia due to lack of interest and the general perception that online purchasing is taboo, will take another dive with the proposed controls of the net," Bahadur said.
She said the level of e-commerce in Malaysia and Singapore was inferior to that of Indonesia and the Philippines. The growth of e-commerce has been slow in Southeast Asia, with only Hong Kong spearheading in this sector in the late 1990s.
The aftermath of the economic crash in 1997 further dampened excitement for fast track growth in e-commerce in either Malaysia or Singapore.
"Besides the fact that online transactions are viewed as dangerous and insecure [thanks to a few cases of credit card fraud], we have had a tight control of content on the net in Singapore," Bahadur said.
It was only late in 2000 that the government of Singapore decided to liberalize the Internet, allowing the free posting, delivery and publishing of contents.
It also allowed the creation and development of "independent" media on the net, even though it insisted that the net police was watching websites.
"The idea of a big brother watching the net does not make it easy for the development of the free enterprise on the net," Bahadur added.
Websites are vulnerable in Asia. Without content that is free from government censorship, it will remain as vulnerable as ever, the consultant believes.
She added that other countries in Arabia for example, which impose bans on Internet content, do not have e-commerce business.
The United States, Europe, Hong Kong, Manila and upcoming Indonesia, have liberated the Internet completely from governmental control.
Growth has been vertical and without limit. The failures of Internet sites is "part of the process of e-commerce development," Bahadur said.
She urged authorities in Malaysia and Singapore to relax rules further and promote more Internet commerce. "The authorities should not allow the fears of total freedom on the net to overtake them and hamper the growth of the new economic dimension, online," she finally said.
In Malaysia, the government says it is committed the Bill of Guarantees set down to promote the country's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).
The 10-point Bill of Guarantees pledges to protect intellectual property rights, gives unparalleled freedom for international companies to set up base here and promises no Internet censorship.
Singapore has adopted the concept of a class license with certain content, deemed to be automatically licensed, provided a code of practice is followed.
Matters relating to race, religion and politics are given special attention, and when the code is breached, the license is revoked.
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